Jenna Collier

After Jenna was born, our Mother wrote the following verse:
" Baby sister, small and new
How I long to play with you.
I am five, you're not yet one.
Hurry,grow and we'll have fun"

And we did!

Jenna and I agreed that we had more fun growing up than our boys did. We road our bikes all over Menlo Park, Palo Alto and Stanford University beginning when Jenna was only five. We played on the lawn-carpeted steps of the Stanford Amphitheater and picked pomegranates from the trees. We played hide-and-seek in the bushes and trees, something I would not have allowed my boys to do at the same age when we lived in Palo Alto 20 years later because by then it was not safe. We lived next door to Nealon Park which we treated as our back yard. They had supervised recreation during the day and at night there were baseball games. When the games were too late and Mother wouldn't let us out, we could watch from our bedroom window. We took hikes, had picnics, made forts and played in San Francisquito Creek. When it rained we made hideouts inside from card tables, chairs and blankets.

Two things happened in Jenna's life before she was two that affected the rest of her life. Her father died and her mother's youngest sister, Margaret, died leaving 3 sons motherless. The youngest, Craig, had been born on Jenna's first birthday and was only 8 months old. The other two were Kent, nine years old and Neil who was a teenager. Our mother moved us to Preston, Idaho so she could try to take the place of mother and housekeeper to the 3 boys and their dad. After the dad remarried, Jenna's family moved to Menlo Park, California to be near her Mother's other sister, Sally. In Menlo Park her mother managed a toy store so Jenna had an abundancy of toys and games to try out so that the sales people would be able to describe them for the shoppers.

For as long as I can remember, Jenna was bringing home lost dogs and cats. As she grew up she brought home lost people and anyone who needed help as well. She not only wanted to help every lost or needy person, she really thought she could. One time that sticks out in my mind is when she was flying home for Christmas from her high school in Utah. She was deathly afraid of flying plus there was a bad storm. The plane had to land at the Half Moon Bay Airport which was about the size of a large gas station. Jenna was scared half to death without even knowing that the airport was so small. She was sure they were going to crash, however she met Angela, who was used to flying and kept Jenna almost distracted for most of the flight if not for the landing and they became fast friends. (Jenna never met anyone who was not a friend.) When they landed, Jenna called Mother and asked if Angela could spend the night until she could reach her parents. Of course our Mother said yes, but she was surely shocked when she met her. She had on what looked like pieces of animal skins and had about ten earrings in each ear, a pierced nose and a pierced tongue. She had a heavy chain on her ankle and even had a tatoo. In Santa Cruz today, that seems only normal but almost 50 years ago in Menlo Park, it was bizarre. But she needed help and that was all Jenna could see and she was only 16 at the time. When the earthquake of '89 happened, it was only natural that Jenna would be there to help wherever she could and she never stopped volunteering for the rest of her life.

I cannot imagine a world without Jenna.

I recently received a copy of a letter that was sent to Jenna that I am copying to this guest book.


I had a phone call yesterday from one of my old high school buddies. We have stayed in touch through all these years. I told him, and may I repeat it to you, that I'm 65 now, and after all these years, and all the thousands of people I have known, there are only a very few who have been so important to my life that I still hold them dear in my heart. And that includes you, Jenna.

Over the years, I have described you to people from time to time, without naming you, as a woman I once had the privilege of knowing, who is perhaps the toughest, strongest-willed and most responsible person I have ever met. When I think of the meaning of "character" in a person, I think of you. When I see people who lack character, who allow themselves to be dominated by addiction or self-indulgence -- even in myself -- I hold them up against your standard of what it is possible to be. Although we parted long ago, you have always remained a personal inspiration to me.

For my dear sweet Jenna…

My partner of 24 years, John Henry and I (Kent E Nelson) went down to visit Jenna a few weeks ago when she was in the nursing home. We took her and Bud out to lunch at her favorite restaurant on the Boardwalk in Santa Cruz. We had a wonderful time with them both and John was able to renew the deep spiritual connection that he felt with Jenna the first time he met her 22 years ago. I was so impressed with how Jenna faced what she was facing. A peaceful person she was!

When I was nine years old my mother passed away from a stroke within an hour on a Friday afternoon when she had been busy making jam. It was terribly hard on my Dad, my brother Neil and I. My brother Craig was only 8 months old at the time. My Aunt Sally, my mother's sister, wanted to take us boys back with her to California to raise us, but my father would have none of it. Instead he and Aunt Gwen, Jenna's mother and my mother's older sister agreed to move to Preston, Idaho and care for us. She packed up and brought Sally, Jenna's older sister, and Jenna with her and moved into our basement apartment.

During the time they were there, the girls became like sisters to us and we shared many a fight and fond memories. Yes, we all fought as children do. Jenna was a sweet little thing at 2 years old with her blond hair tied on top of her head in a curl with a pink ribbon. That image remains with me this day.

All too soon my dad remarried and Jenna and her family moved from Preston back to Menlo Park, California and then latter moved back to Preston so that Aunt Gwen could manage the family hotel. That part of the story has been told.

The next time I saw Jenna was when I was about 43 years old. I was teaching in Marietta, Ohio, recently divorced and just “coming out.” I went to visit Sally and Phil and Jenna right after Aunt Gwen had passed away. I was pissed because she didn't wait for me to get there before she died. Anyway, the visit with Sally and Jenna was well worth the trip.
One evening as it was getting late and after we had been drinking wine, I decided to tell them about my great discovery. After I worked up the courage, not knowing how they would react, I blurted out that I was gay!

Immediately they both ran across the room to my side and down on their knees they hugged me and told me it was about time that I realized it. I was overwhelmed with the love and support that both of them gave me. I felt whole for the first time as it was the first time I had been treated like that since I “came out.” Jenna was a big part of that.

The next time I went to visit Sally and Phil was when they were living in Santa Cruz at the Marina. Jenna would come down and spend the day with us. We would sit on the balcony and visit while we drank wine and enjoyed the view of people working or sunbathing on their boats below us. It was so wonderful to get close to Jenna again and it felt like we had never been apart. I felt her great spirit then and was amazed at the woman she had become.
And then a few years later, after I had met John and he and I were living together, I took him to meet Sally and Jenna while we were on a vacation that summer. John remarked to me upon meeting Jenna, what a wonderful spirit she had about her and that had felt a remarkable spiritual connection to her. We enjoyed spending time again on the balcony, drinking wine and watching people.

On the way home he spoke of the connection that he felt he had made with both Jenna and Sally. I was so happy that he liked my family. I have always felt and continue to feel like Jenna and Sally were my sisters. We will remember Jenna fondly and forever. Bless her were ever she is for she lives on…

Jenna, you were there when I came to this world and never stopped caring and helping. I always thought of you as a second mom to me, I have adopted many traits you showed me over the 30 years of our friendship. Everywhere I look I see reincarnation, stars explode shooting carbon (life's materials), and sea shells become Limestone then become the tallest mountains on earth. Though your body has ceased to function your energy/spirit is strong and still exists, I am sure we will cross paths again. I love you and will miss you very much.

I can't beleive we won't ever see each other again on earth, Jenna you were there helping my son come into life his birth was a moment we shared. I love you with all my heart. Nick was "our" boy..I will miss you forever.

My dear friend Jenna, a friendship of four decades we've had. Although I was in and out of your life over the years, I never really felt away from the friendship that would always instantly return upon seeing you or talking to you again. And even now, remarkably I sense your nearness. You gave the best kind of friendship; selfless, attentive and the most important aspect being that you always made me feel good, like I was funny or smart or somehow special. You understood that about all your friendships. And, of course, I hope I gave you something to laugh about as well as to seriously ponder. Somehow, I do believe that we will take up this conversation yet again, like there was never a separation. Yes, I do believe that.

Remember how much you liked my father? Well, we are celebrating your life on his birthday! How about that?!

Jenna, I thank you for the privilege of knowing you and for sharing a small but magical part of your life with me. I will miss you dear one.

Jenna dear, our recent years held mostly our exchanging animal news, jokes and endearing animal stories and pictures but there was always room/time to express our loving memories of "the old days" when Barry and I lived in Boulder Creek...and more. Bud, I feel so bad for the emptiness you will now feel, but knowing Jenna, she will figure out a way to still fill your days with her presence, be it through plant & animal connections...or herself paying you a visit during the night sometimes. Jenna never hesitated expressing her love for you, Bud, and how much she appreciated yours...thru thick or thin! Words won't express what I am feeling now, dear Jenna. Perhaps we will klatch over coffee still, more often than we can imagine. <3<3<3

Jenna became my friend when my brother in law was diagnosed with ALS. Jenna's brother in law had ALS for 19 years and Jenna helped her sister Sally with his care all those years so when the tragedy came to my family Jenna was there for me. We shared a love of crafts and Jenna was a member of a craft group we started called BMW - Beautiful Mature Women!
Jenna loved color and put it into every thing she created much as she infused light and color into everyone's lives she touched. I am so thankful to have been her friend and I will always miss her and so will my dog Kiwi who adored her as every animal she encountered did. I hope you can visit the rainbow bridge Jenna and be reunited with all those wonderful animals you loved.

Whenever I would hang out with Jenna I just felt happy. The sort of 'okayness' that doesn't need to be any place else, or worry, or be distracted in the least. It wasn't about whatever we said or did together. It was simply how Jenna's innocent good nature would saturate the space we shared. To have a friend like this in your life is something to cherish forever! Thank you sweet Jenna...

Our spaniel, Murphy, almost made us jealous with his transparent adoration of Jenna. He was definitely unto something, a something irreplaceable in our lives. Good bye, Jenna!

Michel Singher (Felton)

The kids called Jenna GJ as in Grama Jenna. She loved being a grama!!

Our world will never be quite the same without our Jenna. Every morning when the birds all chirp outside my window I can't help but think about Jenna and how much she loved her birds in the morning by her bedroom window. I hope she is flying amongst them, happy and free. I feel honored to have known her and have the pleasure of being with the wonderful man she and Bud raised. Jenna you will forever live on in our hearts. As you told me not so long ago, "Remember when you are down, all things in life are bright and beautiful.. " Love you Jenna (GJ) xoxo